Sixty years after deporting 35,000 Jews - half its population - to German gas chambers, Belgium has apologized. Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt issued the official apology yesterday during a ceremony commemorating the first Belgian deportations. "There were too many collaborators in Belgium," Verhofstadt said. "We should have the courage to say it, to acknowledge it and to bear it."
Dr. Avi Becker, secretary-general of the World Jewish Congress, said yesterday that the apology was a direct result of a recently-released report on Belgian collaboration with the Nazis. The report "revealed to the Belgians that they were not innocent of collaboration or of taking Jewish property," Becker said. He believes that because half of Belgium's Jews were saved, thanks to many citizens who refused to collaborate with the Nazis, "the Belgians had a very positive self-image and found it difficult to accept that they too had numerous collaborators." Belgium has signed a number of agreements in recent years to compensate Jews for property stolen during and after the Holocaust.
Dr. Avi Becker, secretary-general of the World Jewish Congress, said yesterday that the apology was a direct result of a recently-released report on Belgian collaboration with the Nazis. The report "revealed to the Belgians that they were not innocent of collaboration or of taking Jewish property," Becker said. He believes that because half of Belgium's Jews were saved, thanks to many citizens who refused to collaborate with the Nazis, "the Belgians had a very positive self-image and found it difficult to accept that they too had numerous collaborators." Belgium has signed a number of agreements in recent years to compensate Jews for property stolen during and after the Holocaust.